The valve is a known device used to open and close passages in fluid systems and is widely applied to dispense fluids, such as beverages, from containers. Examples of such kinds of dispensing valves previously patented by the present applicant are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,600, granted Jul. 18, 1989, entitled, Self Closing Dispensing Valve, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,327, granted Apr. 3, 1984, entitled Fluid Dispensing Closure with Integral Valve. Prior valve designs include those which incorporate a spring element as a separate discrete component. In such valves the spring is either stretched or compressed as a result of manually opening and holding the valve operated, thereby storing mechanical energy in the elasticity of the spring. That stored energy serves to restore the valve to the sealed or closed position when the holding force is withdrawn. Examples of such valves are given in the prior patents to Reid U.S. Pat. No. 3,539,151, granted Nov. 10, 1970, entitled Valve Construction, Reid et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,584,834, granted Jun. 15, 1971, entitled Manually Operable Elastic Spring and Valve Member, Shortle U.S. Pat. No. 597,834, granted Jan. 25, 1898, entitled Siphon Head and Fuerst U.S. Pat. No. 3,417,962, granted Dec. 24, 1968, entitled Liquid Dispensing Valve and Nagy U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,932, granted Aug. 19, 1989, entitled Bottle Siphon and Dispenser.
As shown by the cited patents to Reid, Reid et al, Shortl, and Fuerst, as example, the spring may be formed of rubber or other elastomeric elastic materials and serve also to provide a fluid seal. Such elastic materials may be readily molded to known shapes and the elastic properties can be adjusted to a degree through selection of the particular material, and the thickness of those shapes, most often through trial and error, to attain the spring characteristic desired in a particular valve design. In those prior patents it appears that a particular elastic non-metallic spring serves as an elastic element in but one valve structure.
The present invention is of a novel spring geometry formed in elastomeric material. As an advantage the spring presented herein is not restricted to application in a single valve design. The novel spring may be incorporated interchangeably, without modification, in at least two novel valve designs, described herein, thereby reducing the number of stock keeping parts required for producing two different valves concurrently.
A principal object of the invention, thus, is to provide a compression spring of elastomeric material in a new geometry.
Molded plastic material is the material of choice in low cost fluid dispensing valves, particularly for bottled or packaged beverages marketed through retail stores to consumers, where manufacturing cost is an important factor. And the fewer the number of components required for the dispensing valve, the fewer steps are required for its assembly.
The new compression spring advantageously serves as an element in a self closing dispensing valve for a confined pressurized fluid, such as carbonated water known as Seltzer, and as a like element in a tap valve and, in fact, a single spring design may be used interchangeably in both valves. Being of an elastic material the spring incorporates seals that are required to avoid valve leakage from the valve actuator and/or from the dispensing tap, thereby eliminating the need for separate seals. Because the spring incorporates fluid seals integrally, fewer elements are required for a practicable valve. The spring seal can be fabricated from an elastomeric material, such as a polyolefin rubber or polystyrene based rubber, that is compatible with the polymer plastic materials selected for the remaining elements in the valve, such as rigid polypropelene, thereby permitting the valve, when discarded, to be recycled easily.
Accordingly another object of the invention is to provide new valve structures that take advantage of the characteristics of the disclosed compression spring by incorporating the new compression spring as a component element;
Still another object of the invention is to provide a valve structure that is environmentally friendly in that it is easily recyclable; and
An ancillary object is to provide new and inexpensive valves adapted to beverage applications.